


slipping through my fingers (all the time)

by illicitaffair



Category: Life with Derek
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, F/M, Red String of Fate, im sorry, they never actually meet??, uhhh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-27
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:02:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24943561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/illicitaffair/pseuds/illicitaffair
Summary: There are numerous universes where they never meet. Those realities act as a parallel to each other, almost identical to the untrained eye. Their cogs turning unanimously; images projected onto a screen in neighbouring movie theatres.alternatively; derek, casey and parallel universes.
Relationships: Casey McDonald/Derek Venturi
Comments: 17
Kudos: 28





	slipping through my fingers (all the time)

**Author's Note:**

> uhhhm so i apologise? this was meant to be part of a longer soulmate au where the red string of fate follows derek and casey throughout several universes. however i got stuck writing basically the same au over and over again (the idea was to fit as many different types of aus/tropes as possible to make it fun) so i'm putting the idea on the back burner for now and posting this snippet so it doesn't go to waste. if you have any thoughts on some aus/storylines that you would like to see, hit me up in the comments! (aka im desperate for ideas please help! nfdsjk). 
> 
> title from that one abba song that makes us all cry
> 
> stay safe and hydrated! xx

There are numerous universes where they never meet. Those realities act as a parallel to each other, almost identical to the untrained eye. Their cogs turning unanimously; images projected onto a screen in neighbouring movie theatres. 

Of course, there are constants throughout each reality. A girl the same age as Derek will always move in across the hall. In some, she’s a brunette, in others blonde; once even a redhead. Their relationship always begins antagonistic - uprooting your life to accommodate strangers will do that. But eventually, with the help of time, their relationship will thaw into something akin to understanding, to caring, to something resembling a familial bond. 

This Derek doesn’t date. He closely guards his emotions with elusive smirks and a reputation that precedes him. On Fridays in between hockey practise and family movie nights, his body is warmed in the backseat of his car. It’s not always Sally-although it usually is- but the mechanics are the same. Short breaths and murmured prayers, fumbling hands and sharp, feverish moments of pleasure. But ultimately, as he drives off feeling satisfied and in control, his heart remains dormant inside him. He’s man enough to admit that it scares him, the numbness.  _ It will be different at Queens _ , Derek tells himself. 

It is. University is another constant. It's there that Derek makes new friends, plays hockey, and gets a degree. He meets girls, too many to count, and makes out with most of them. He graduates, smiling at his Father, his step-Mother and all his siblings as he steps down from the stage, diploma in hand. 

And in each of these parallel universes, exactly a year later on that very stage, Casey McDonald shares a similar smile with her mother and her sister. There's continuity within her realities, too. 

Casey, Lizzie and Nora always move into another man's house by the time Casey is fifteen. Everything works just as it should: Nora is happy, Lizzie walks through life with an ever-present sense of curiosity and Casey, well, she makes it through. The smaller details, the ones that make up her life, are ever-changing. A rotation throughout the universes; friends, hobbies, boyfriends. They’re placeholders for when her  _ real  _ life begins, away from the suffocating confines of her small town and the judgements that accompany it. 

By the time her graduation from Queens rolls around it's always the same: her mother, Lizzie and her. Sometimes it's a result of miscommunication, other times violence. And sometimes, it's because of death's untimely clock. In every universe Casey feels for her mother, she  _ aches  _ for the pain and hurt that she knows Nora carries every day. But a small, nagging part of her is pleased.  _ It was always meant to be the three of us, _ Casey thinks as she is handed her diploma, her eyes searching the crowd. 

That’s another constant. 

Another, and perhaps the most important, is the vibrant red string that is ever-present between Derek and Casey. The universes work in tandem, intricately mirroring each other to ensure they never cross paths. And yet, their string is never broken, never tangled. Rather, it is pulled taut, stretched from years of distance and indifference. At times the string becomes loose: in a coffee shop on campus, various parties and once, in a single reality, the same lecture hall. But eventually, their string is pulled taut again, ensuring that their chance had ended.

Except, of course, it was a moment that was never destined to happen. In these universes, Derek and Casey are blissfully unaware of the cruel hand that fate had dealt them. 

Unaware that something,  _ someone, _ was missing. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> you can hmu on [tumblr](https://eyescllsed.tumblr.com/) or [twitter](https://twitter.com/aqamparrish)
> 
> comments make my heart go whoosh jsyk <3


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